Yesterday, Stuff ran an article reporting a public protest in response to the death of Shireen Abu Akleh.
NZFOI considers the article a shockingly substandard piece of journalism.
According to the Media Council,
“An independent press plays a vital role in a democracy. The proper fulfilment of that role requires a fundamental responsibility to maintain high standards of accuracy, fairness and balance and public faith in those standards.”
Yet Heagney’s article falls short of this standard in three areas.
Accuracy: The article states that “She was shot by Israeli forces”. The matter is still under investigation by the authorities. Therefore, on what basis does the reporter make his statement? Nothing but hearsay.
Fairness: Heagney reports that his interviewee wants the New Zealand government to “push for an investigation.”But Heagney doesn’t mention the existence of other reports (e.g. Your Friday Briefing: The Fateful Bullet – The New York Times (nytimes.com)) saying that the Palestinian authorities had refused to allow Israeli investigators to examine the bullet removed from her body.
The truth is that there is no need for the NZ Government to push for an investigation because there is already an investigation underway and for unknown reasons, the Palestinian authorities were being obstructive and frustrating it.
Balance: Instead of presenting the full story, Heagney has written an article that provides no context, that does not inform readers of the long standing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and by omission, implies that the protestors’ cause is free of bias and just.
On three counts, Heagney’s article falls short of the Media Council’s standards.
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